Sunday Business Notebook: Chicago buyer for historic core building in Jacksonville

Saturday

Jan 30, 2016 at 5:18 PM

Roger Bull

The Groover-Stewart building downtown has been sold and is headed for a renovation and new occupants. A limited liability corporation based in Chicago paid $2.05 million for the four-story, 53,000-square-foot building.

But Bobby Knight of Coastal Commercial Real Estate, who brokered the deal with Fitch King of Morgar Realty, said American Credit Corp. of Boston will assume ownership.

It will renovate the building and occupy most of it.

Knight said most of the building, 25 N. Market St., has been vacant since the Public Defender's Office moved out in 2011.

It was built in 1925 as the Groover-Stewart Drug Co. Building. The company was one of Florida's leading makers and distributors of pharmaceuticals in the 1920s and '30s.

The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. The application called it "the most elaborate of Jacksonville's four-story vernacular industrial designs by the firm of Marsh & Saxelbye."

APARTMENTS

Multifamily complexes are continuing to sell.

Momentum Real Estate Partners of Miami paid $39 million for Terraces at Town Center, 5140 Gate Parkway. The 240-unit complex was built in 2013. Brian Moulder handled the sale for CBRE.

Venterra Realty Management of Webster, Texas, paid $36,250,000 for the Links at Windsor Parke apartments at 13700 N. Sutton Park Drive. The 280-unit complex was built in 1994 and last sold for $33.6 million in 2012.

DAILY'S IT IS

I had a story Tuesday about Daily's planning a convenience store and gas station on Hendricks Avenue between Dunkin' Donuts and Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church. The property had changed hands last month but I couldn't find out the plans for it.

Then I had a call from a reader asking "Is it true that Daily's …?" A call to Daily's confirmed it.

So there you go, readers are great sources of information. Thanks.

Meanwhile, Daily's is looking at completely redoing its Shell gas station a little farther south at San Jose and University boulevards. It's still early in the process, but the station would come down and be replaced by a full convenience store. The pumps would stay as they are, though. There's not enough room for more of those.

And it has land under contract for a new store on Florida 13, just south of Race Track Road in St. Johns County.

JUMPING TO CIRCLE K

Speaking of convenience stores, all the Kangaroo Express stores in the area will start becoming Circle K stores next month. Canada-based Alimentation Couche-Tard bought the Pantry chain, and its major brand Kangaroo Express, a year ago for $1.7 billion.

It's brought a few of its own changes to Kangaroo Express, including the Polar Pop sodas. But it's just starting to change all the names, which should take several months.

PLANS OFF DUNN

A new three-building complex is going up on Monaco Drive, just off Dunn Avenue and just west of I-95 on the Northside.

Ben Gottlieb is developing it and putting in a 4,000-square-foot, 24-hour laundry there. He plans to lease the other 30,000 square feet out.

He's hoping for a doctor's office or perhaps a 24-hour urgent care facility.

Tier 1 Construction is doing the $1.03 million construction and the $70,000 build-out on the laundry. Gottlieb paid $535,000 for the 2.4 vacant acres last year.

O'STEEN'S UPDATE

Last week's column had an item about O'Steen's Auto Body buying the former Kabuto restaurant on Atlantic Boulevard at Tresca Road. Owner Mark O'Steen has since told me that he does plan to expand his shop there. He thought about bulldozing the building, but it turned out to be so solid he's renovating it into a body shop.

He expects the renovation to take four to six months and said he'll hire another dozen people or so when it opens. He's also keeping the shop further up Tresca that he's had for 20 years.

WESTSIDE BUYS

Pattillo Industrial Real Estate has made a couple of significant purchases on the Westside.

It paid $7.5 million for a 137,968-square-foot building on 7 acres at 6595 Pritchard Road, just east of I-295. Vice President Peter Anderson said the building is leased.

But Pattillo also paid $7,175,000 for 96 vacant acres farther west on Pritchard. There, Anderson said, it plans to build two or three distribution-type buildings to lease out. It could handle up to 1.5 million square feet, he said, and he expects it to happen in the next five years.

SAN MARCO, SAWGRASS

Scout & Molly's boutique will open its first North Florida locations. One is going into 960 San Marco Blvd., on the square. The other will be in Sawgrass Village in Ponte Vedra Beach.

The women's boutique is based in North Carolina and has 10 stores, with 13 more being planned.

A spokeswoman for Franklin Street, which negotiated the lease, said the franchisees have other locations in the works.

Core Property Capital of Atlanta paid $23.5 million for 63 acres on Town Center Parkway, across the street from St. Johns Town Center. In plans announced Friday in the Times-Union, an agent for the development said leases have been signed for a full-service hamburger chain, Brazilian steak house, fast-casual Italian restaurant, mattress store, coffee shop, dental/medical office and grocery store. None were named.

Plans also call for two hotels with a lakefront restaurant and apartment buildings. Work on the retail buildings is expected by summer.

Al and Suela Mansur paid $1.3 million for the 2,356-square-foot home at 51 Beach Ave., on the ocean in Atlantic Beach. It was built in 1925 and last sold for $725,200 in 2015.

Janet and Douglas Ross paid $1,225,000 for a 3,000-square-foot condo in Villa Riva, 2358 Riverside Drive. It sold for $1,265,000 in 2007 and last sold for $775,000 in 2011.

Homebuilder D.R. Horton paid $1 million for 25 lots in Cedarbrook, off Cedar Point Road in North Jacksonville.

First Coast Health Ventures of Jacksonville paid $2,850,158 for 9.8 vacant acres at the corner of Max Leggett Parkway and Owens Road.

roger.bull@jacksonville.com,

(904) 359-4296

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